Resistance Bands Added To Weights
A problem with working out at home involves the access to numerous weights. How to increase strength when you are limited in the amount of weights that you have access to. While many people out there, especially those reading this article, have a gym membership with a plethora of weights, some still choose to throw in a home workout. Like myself! I do love a good home workout. Or maybe you are a van dweller, road tripper, living life from your tent or your 4 wheels, then this is also a great option for you.
Even if you do workout at a gym with a plethora of weights, this is still a tactic of training you may want to throw into the mix, especially if you are looking to increase your power. That tactic is the use of resistance bands (RB) and/or known as elastic bands to your free weights/barbell exercises. This is a way to add increased resistance without needing to add more weight, the reason it is a great addition to the home or travel gym as RBs are inexpensive compared to that of dumbbells and especially kettlebells.
Something to know is how RBs change the intensity of the exercise you are doing as it does not change it the same way as just increasing the weight. RBs are elastic, they stretch, so this changes where your body will feel that resistance. As a study done by Israetel, et al. (2010) showed exactly where the body feels the resistance during a squat. They found a significant increase during the first 25% of the eccentric phase (lower of the squat) and the last 10% of the concentric phase (the stand up phase). This makes sense. Think about a RB, and using a RB on its own, you feel the most resistance as you stretch it out. The assistance of a band with a squat would be most stretched out when you are standing tall, so when you begin to lower and when you are close to reaching the top of the standing position again. This creates variable resistance. Whereas with using free weights/barbells the resistance is fixed throughout the whole lift.
Since it is a variable resistance, this form of accommodating resistance (training with chains falls under this as well) is great for increasing power. If you are looking to train a power phase this is an easy way to. Studies (2,3,4,6 ) have found that adding RBs significantly improves peak power and rate of force development (RFD). Peak power is the maximum amount of work over time. RFD is how fast you can produce force. RFD is essentially the time it takes to reach your top force. The little illustration below hopefully gives a better visual for this.
Hence the reason why adding RB with your weights is a great way to work on power. Now if you are looking to increase strength as well using this method, the research is conflicting. Some research (5,7) has shown an increase in strength and some have shown none and/or a decrease in muscle activation (3,6). However, it does not mean this is not a way to increase the intensity of the weight you are lifting. The thing to recognize is that this type of training modality seems to favor the increasing power. That’s all. Which is not a bad thing.
Overall if you are short on weights, working out at home, on the road, out of your van, RBs overall are a great addition to the minimal access to weights you have to increase resistance in a cost effective way. Additionally if you do have access to a plethora of weights and want to start working on power, adding RBs is a simple way to work on this.
Resources:
Israetel, Michael A; McBride, Jeffrey M; Nuzzo, James L; Skinner, Jared W; Dayne, Andrea M. Kinetic and Kinematic Differences Between Squats Performed With and Without Elastic Bands. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 24(1):p 190-194, January 2010. | DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e31819b7995
2Parten, Alyssa L.; Barker, Gaven A.; O'Neal, Eric K.; Waldman, Hunter S.. Seven-Week Accommodating Resistance Training Improves Wingate Peak Power But Not Muscular Strength or Endurance in Strength-Trained Females. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 37(9):p 1789-1794, September 2023. | DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000004473
Galpin, Andrew J.; Malyszek, Kylie K.; Davis, Kyle A.; Record, Shaina M.; Brown, Lee E.; Coburn, Jared W.; Harmon, RoQue A.; Steele, Jeff M.; Manolovitz, Adam D.. Acute Effects of Elastic Bands on Kinetic Characteristics During the Deadlift at Moderate and Heavy Loads. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 29(12):p 3271-3278, December 2015. | DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000987
Stevenson, Mark W1; Warpeha, Joseph M2; Dietz, Cal C3; Giveans, Russell M2; Erdman, Arthur G1. Acute Effects of Elastic Bands During the Free-weight Barbell Back Squat Exercise on Velocity, Power, and Force Production. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 24(11):p 2944-2954, November 2010. | DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181db25de
Ghigiarelli, Jamie J1; Nagle, Elizabeth F2; Gross, Fredric L2; Robertson, Robert J2; Irrgang, James J3; Myslinski, Tom4. The Effects of a 7-Week Heavy Elastic Band and Weight Chain Program on Upper-Body Strength and Upper-Body Power in a Sample of Division 1-AA Football Players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 23(3):p 756-764, May 2009. | DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181a2b8a2
Heelas, Thomas; Theis, Nicola; Hughes, Jonathan D.. Muscle Activation Patterns During Variable Resistance Deadlift Training With and Without Elastic Bands. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 35(11):p 3006-3011, November 2021. | DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000003272
Bellar, David M; Muller, Matthew D; Barkley, Jacob E; Kim, Chul-Ho; Ida, Keisuke; Ryan, Edward J; Bliss, Mathew V; Glickman, Ellen L. The Effects of Combined Elastic- and Free-Weight Tension vs. Free-Weight Tension on One-Repetition Maximum Strength in the Bench Press. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 25(2):p 459-463, February 2011. | DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181c1f8b6
